Kristen Wiig to Make Directing Debut in New TriStar Comedy

Tom Rothman's TriStar Productions has closed a preemptive deal for Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo's new comedy. Based on their original idea, the film is also intended as a directing debut for Wiig. Story detailsand title are being kept under wrap, but Wiig and Mumolo will write and star as best friends who find themselves in over their heads and out of their depths, which were, perhaps, not too deep to begin with. The duo, who broke comedy ground with Bridesmaids, are known for creating hilariously offbeat characters and expanding the range of female driven comedy.

In addition toBridesmaids,Mumolo recently wrote the Joy Mangano story for Fox 2000, which attracted David O. Russell and Jennifer Lawrence. Mumolo's feature acting credits includememorable performances in the Judd Apatow-directed "This is 40"andthe Sundance award-winner "Afternoon Delight."Mumolo currently recurs on the NBC series "About a Boy," and she has also recently appeared on"Modern Family," "The Goldbergs," and "Rake."

Wiig, who starred on "Saturday Night Live" for seven seasons, where she portrayed numerous indelible characters and was nominated for four Emmys, has gone on to a remarkably varied and accomplished range of work. Her recent credits include The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Anchorman 2 and Hateship, Loveship as well as voice work in the Despicable Me and How to Train Your Dragon franchises. Wiig will next be seen in The Skeleton Twins released this fall in addition to two independent films; Nasty Baby and Welcome to Me.

For their work together on the screenplay for Bridesmaids, Wiig and Mumolo were nominated for Oscar, BAFTA, and Writers Guild of America Awards. Wiig was also nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Actress Musical or Comedy for her role in the film and shared a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Cast with her co-stars.

Wiig and Mumolo said: "We're very excited to be writing. We will be going into a cave for months to finish. An actual cave. We found one that's nice and big. We're putting a couch in there."

Tom Rothman added: "Kristen and Annie assured me that the film will be a searing and depressing drama, which is what the world needs right now.So we grabbed it. Perhaps more to the point, these two supremely talented ladies are always ahead of the comedy curve and as we at TriStar push for originality, we are lucky as hell to be in business with them.The chance to hopefully make Kristen's first film as a director is the cherry on top."